No charges for A train shooter, who acted in ‘self-defense’

Aggressor in critical but stable condition after being shot with own gun

March 15, 2024 Mary Frost

Police officers at the scene of Thursday’s A train shooting in Downtown Brooklyn. Photo: Mary Frost, Brooklyn Eagle

Share this:

DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN — A 36-year-old man was shot in the head with his own gun after he started a violent altercation with another man on a subway train in Downtown Brooklyn during Thursday’s afternoon rush hour.

No criminal charges will likely be filed against the 32-year-old man who shot his attacker on the A train, according to Oren Yaniv, spokesperson for the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office.

Yaniv, in a release on Friday, called the shooting inside a crowded subway car “shocking and deeply upsetting,” and noted that the investigation was still ongoing. “But, at this stage, evidence of self-defense precludes us from filing any criminal charges against the shooter.”

At a news conference held outside the Hoyt-Schermerhorn Streets Station (A, C and G lines) about an hour after Thursday’s shooting, NYPD Chief of Transit Michael Kemper said a 32-year-old man had entered a northbound A train at the Nostrand Avenue Station at about 4:45 p.m. Once the train started moving, he was approached by the 36-year-old man who was already on the train. The older man was described by multiple witnesses as “aggressive and provocative” towards the 32-year-old.

“Words were exchanged, and it became physical,” Kemper told reporters. At one point the 36-year-old displayed a knife or razor blade to the younger man. The older man then put the sharp object down, words were exchanged, and it became physical again, Kemper said. The 36-year-old then removed a firearm from his jacket and started walking towards the 32-year-old in a menacing manner.

Police caution tape surrounds the Hoyt-Schermerhorn Streets Station following Thursday’s A train shooting. Photo: Mary Frost, Brooklyn Eagle

The train pulled into the Hoyt-Schermerhorn station as the shots were fired. There were multiple police officers already in the station, which is the headquarters for NYPD’s Transit District 30.

“They heard the shots and were on the scene within seconds. They provided medical assistance and requested an ambulance, and gathered witnesses. The 36-year-old was removed to a local hospital,” Kemper said. A small caliber firearm was found at the scene.

“There were multiple witnesses on that train car that recorded with their cell phones,” Kemper said.

The 36-year-old underwent emergency surgery and remained in critical, but stable condition as of Friday.

“When you bring a gun on the train and you start a fight … that’s what happened here, and it’s absolutely outrageous. That’s why we need to keep fighting against guns,” Transit Authority Chief Executive Janno Lieber said at the news conference.

Lieber added that while the aggressor appeared to be the victim, in his opinion, the real victims “were the other people on the train who were scared for their lives.”

The shooting comes on the heels of Gov. Kathy Hochul deploying National Guard members throughout the subway system to combat crime.

Police wrangle barricades around the Hoyt-Schermerhorn Streets Station in Downtown Brooklyn following a shooting on the A train Thursday, March 14. Photo: Mary Frost, Brooklyn Eagle

Video: Woman appears to have stabbed the aggressor

A video posted on Twitter/X by Oliya Scootercaster shows part of the incident. A vicious fight can be seen taking place between the two men. Then while the attacker is on top of the younger man, beating him, a woman walks up behind him and appears to stab him in the lower back.

A tall male bystander wearing a yellow vest separates the two men and asks them to both take their seats. But instead of sitting, the 36-year-old man starts yelling at the woman, saying, “You stabbed me? You stabbed me, right?” Blood can be seen on the back of his shirt.

The angry man walks to his jacket, which is laying on a seat, and pulls out a gun, setting off a panic among passengers in the subway car. At this point the video shows frantic people running away from the man with the gun, and cowering in a pile on the floor of the car. The subway doors open and the video image bounces around, depicting chaos as the sound of gunfire can be heard.

Police on Friday were still looking for the woman involved in the fight.

Brownsville student Natgel Maldonado was on the downtown platform when shooting broke out on an uptown A train at the Hoyt-Schermerhorn Streets Station. Photo: Mary Frost, Brooklyn Eagle

‘It was like a stampede’

Brownsville student Natgel Maldonado was on the downtown platform waiting for a train to take him further into Brooklyn when he saw the Manhattan-bound A train pull into the station. He saw the doors on the uptown train open and, “Everybody started running out,” he told the Brooklyn Eagle. “People were getting injured, arms, legs getting stepped on. It was like a stampede. People were just trying to get off the train.”

Pillars partially obscured his view, but he said he saw police, “And it looked like they had their guns out. I thought, does someone have a gun?” he said.

As soon as he realized what was happening he became scared, Maldonado said.

After he left the subway station he noticed an ambulance parked on the street. “That must have been the ambulance they used to bring the man to the hospital,” he said.

Adams blames mental illness

Mayor Eric Adams on Friday blamed mental illness for the violent incident.

“When I looked at this tape and broke it down piece by piece and frame by frame, it is clear that it personifies what our pursuit is in Albany around those with severe mental health illnesses,” he said during an interview with Pat Kiernan on NY1.

Adams added that many of the “random acts of violence” that have been taking place throughout the city could be attributed to mental illness. “It just unnerves New Yorkers.”